It was a damp Father's Day at the Museum of Flight in 91原创, and while many visitors with umbrellas were perusing the outdoor display, many others were inside, looking over a massive collection of aircraft models.

More than 1,000 were on display, part of a collection donated by the late Eribert (Bert) Loehner of Vancouver, a passionate aviation fan and model builder, who gifted his collection to held the museum raise funds. 

At the one-day sale, just for Father's Day, boxes of every kind of model imaginable completely filled a side room, ranging from Second World War Spitfires, to the legendary, cancelled, Canadian-built Avro Arrow supersonic interceptor.

In charge of the sale was volunteer Adriaan deHek, himself a model maker, who said the Loehner collection was donated to the museum in December of 2023, is remarkable for the wide range of model aircraft, many of which are no longer being made.

"There's all manners of subject types, scales, and out of production models," deHek told the 91原创 Advance Times.

"There's some unusual subject matter in here."

Anyone who missed the Father's Day sale is welcome to get in touch with the museum to see what they have in stock deHerk said.

Loehner's wife, Barbara Berry, who attended the museum event, explained Bert assembled aircraft models as a child, but not as an adult.

"He was more interested in the historical artifact of the model," Berry said.

A biography posted in the main hall of the museum described how Bert attended air shows, visited aviation history museums, and model shops across Europe, North American, Asia Pacific, and China to add to his collection.

"He loved talking with aviation enthusiasts and reading about planes. Bert's vast and deep collection of technical materials, books and models are evidence of the breadth and depth of his aviation knowledge and passion," the bio said.

He is remembered as a model expert, a judge with the International Plastic Models Society, and an well-read authority on the history of the planes in his collection.

While he never learned to fly, Bert made 81 parachute jumps, all from the 91原创 airport.

Turnout for the museum's Father's Day event was about the same as last year, at 336 visitors, which, considering the weather, was "pretty good," noted museum president Bruce Friesen.